


Time and Tide

by dsa_archivist



Category: due South
Genre: Gen, Humor, Series: Cabbages and Kings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-09-26
Updated: 1999-09-26
Packaged: 2018-11-10 12:09:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11126727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsa_archivist/pseuds/dsa_archivist
Summary: At last the End, Revenge is Wreaked, Cocoa is sipped..





	Time and Tide

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Speranza, the archivist: this story was once archived at [Due South Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Due_South_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Due South Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/duesoutharchive).

Time and Tide

## Time and Tide

The Last and Final Part of CABBAGES AND KINGS 

by TimBeastie aka   
  
  
  


"And now I'd like a little help here....please." Sarah turned to the two siblings. 

"Help? Huh! The only help you're gonna get is from the sharp end of my shoe." scowled Frannie happily prepared to ruin $80 bucks on Sarah's rump. 

"Oh well." Sarah gave a sweet little mad smile to her captive audience as she donned a gas mask produced from the voluminous pockets of her dress. 

With the other hand she retrieved a small brightly coloured canister covering with gaudy warning symbols. Still smiling she tossed the canister into the centre of the room with no little force and donned the mask. A thick choking cloud of gas erupted and swirling yellow clouds began to make their inexorable way to the squirming trio. 

"Now you will remember to breathe won't you Benton?" Benny flinched from Sarah's muffled and mocking tones as her gas mask loomed very much in his face. He'd not been planning to do that really. He had been hoping to use his tremendous lung capacity to gain some time and perhaps some advantage however a short slap to the head from his captor surprised the breath out of him and most unfortunately, into him.   
  


+++++++++++++++++   
  


The sound of water splashing gently beside him woke the Mountie and for a moment Benton tried to take stock of what his senses were telling him. His feet and hands were bound tightly against some sort of thick pole, there was a tang of salt to the air, his body seemed to be rocking up and down. He tried for a while to open his eyes sticky with sleep but was soon once more overwhelmed by the effects of the gas. 

Some time later he awoke blinking in the light reflected from the waves surrounding him. Moonlight not sunlight. He shivered for it was cold and he was up to his waist in icy water. The cold light of the moon beamed wanly round him but the darkness encroached more. He searched wildly for some clue as to his whereabouts but the shore though fairly close seemed deserted and the silence lay heavy round him. The large owl perched atop the pole he was bound to made his heart leap until he realised it was stuffed. The glassy eyes however seemed to bore right through him. Panic overtook him and he wriggled frantically but the rope bit deeper and deeper into his wrists until he could feel the trickle of blood seeping down his hands. 

"Sarah" he moaned helplessly. 

"Here" said Sarah brightly into his left ear. He twisted round in surprise and saw his nemesis bobbing up and down in a small dinghy by his side. She grinned widely at him enjoying the sight of his predicament. 

"Suffering?" she asked in a sympathetic tone very much belied by the smirk on her face. 

"Sarah please." He begged. He wasn't supposed to beg, that wasn't the Mountie way. But he couldn't end it like this. To drown bound and helpless, to simply wait for death while the water inexorably made its way to his lungs. 

"Please what?" 

"Please..." His voice cracked and his tears added to the salty water. 

"Pretty please?" 

"Pretty please." 

Sarah reached into her pocket and brought out a strawberry spotted handkerchief. With immense care and attention she wetted the fabric with her tongue and began to cleanse Benton's tear bedecked face. 

"Aw schnookums" she said as one would to a crying child. 

"Pretty please with sugar candy?" 

"Pretty please with sugar candy." he whispered but his voice seemed to echo round the bay. 

"Mmm" Sarah mused and withdrew a large wicked looking hunting knife from her seemingly bottomless pockets. 

The blade glinted in the moonlight bedazzling the Mountie whose throat suddenly constricted with fear of what the blade might do. 

"Pretty please with sugar candy and ..." 

A voice from the shore interrupted. 

"Put your weapon down. You 're surrounded. Bring the boat to shore and give yourself up." 

"Oh dear" pouted Sarah drawing the blade slowly down Benton's cheek and under his chin. 

"Whatever shall I do?" 

"Hsst" Benton started. From his right ear someone close, real close was whispering. 

"Come on son. Dry those eyes. Where's your pride for heavens sake?" 

The older Mountie sounded peeved and Benton felt somewhat aggrieved that his father did not seem to be taking his plight more seriously. 

As he twisted round to respond in a rather non-filial way the sharp blade cut into his smooth skin and a tiny trickle of red dripped into his uniform. He hardly felt the sting of the cut however as his fury mounted. 

"Can't you see what's going on here? Is that a dagger I see before me? I think so!" 

"Who're you talkin' to sweetcheeks?" asked Sarah catching a little blood on the shiny metal and admiring it as it congealed. 

"You remember my father don't you?" said Benton turning back. Two could do the mad trick and he'd done it before, very well. This time he could do it so much better. 

"Sarah McMurkie, Robert Fraser - deceased" Benton's voice was intense and his blue eyes glittered but not with tears this time. 

"Ah" said both parties. 

Sarah nodded with satisfaction and patted Benton's head and ruffled his hair for good measure. 

"My work here is done" she said and began to paddle out to sea singing a sea shanty of extremely dubious content as she went. 

Along the shoreline frantic activity from men without boats took place. Until a man with a boat, albeit a very small boat came along and rescued the Mountie who was singing softly to himself. 

"Hello Benny" said Ray as he cut his friend's bonds. 

"Ray." smiled the Mountie. 

"Ray, I don't think I've ever properly introduced you to my father." 

"Uh Benton, son? I don't think that's quite the good idea you know. Straitjacket technology is coming along quite nicely these days and a dislocated shoulder just won't do it any more." 

"Well Benny that's understandable seeing as how he's dead." 

"Ah well now that would be the reason then." Benny flashed a beautific smile at his unofficial partner, turned slightly and winked at his father and shivered his way into the waiting boat. 

+++++++++++   
  


"Did I ever tell you Ray that I appreciate your talent for getting my, my hmm backside out of sticky situations?" said Benton as he sipped a mug of hot chocolate gratefully. 

"Backside Benny? No one says backside. Say butt." 

"Mmm" mused the Mountie as he pursed a froth covered lip. 

"Pretty please with a sugar candy butt." 

Ray frowned puzzled at his friend's sudden burst of giggles let along the very odd phrase that had just left his lips. 

"You alright Benny?" he enquired doubtfully wondering if he should put a call in for his poor befuddled Mountie. 

Benton set his mug on the table and leaned back into his chair letting the blanket covering him slip a little. He drew a hearty breath and expelled it slowly. 

"Yup" he said with every evidence of satisfaction. "Yup, just peachy."   
  


### THE END


End file.
